


I Have Long Wished To Have This Happiness

by orphan_account



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alana is also kind of a match-maker??, Alana is great appreciate my gal, Alana is playing Natasha fite me, Angst, Band!AU??, Characters from different musicals also included slightly?, Could be any of those but you get the point, Evan has tutor Connor?? For musical/cello purposes??, F/F, FLUFF EVENTUALLY, Feckin gr8 I'm gonna love writing this, Galaxy Gals, Idk a co-writer would actually be gr8, If you actually comment then I'll love you forever, Jared plays kazoo smh, Just please stick with it the first few chapters are slow, M/M, Nvm just read if you want?, Or Orchestra!AU ??, Slow Burn, Strangers? To friends to lovers, The treebros are both cellists, Theatre!AU???, They're doing Great Comet cause I wanted to live up to my username, V v sweet Alana she's a great friend, What a hOOT of a story, eventual mutual pining, musician!AU, treebros
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-07 19:17:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12239052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Two cellists, a guitarist, a clarinetist, and a Student Director/actress/conductor walk into a room.It's the five awesome teens that will be taking centre-stage in this story.AKA the Theatre/Musicians AU that no one asked for, where our favorite DEH characters are all part of the school show band for the year's production of Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet Of 1812.





	1. Chapter 1

Not every theatre kid was definitely cut out for performing on stage. Sure, maybe they'd like to. Or they might be fine with having a love for what happens on stage while not wanting to actually be there. Or maybe they decide that they're more cut out for being backstage, in the wings.

Evan Hansen wasn't sure where exactly he wanted to be, but he found that he had a place in the orchestra pit, as a cellist. For now, his orchestra pit came in the form of the band for his school's musical productions.

Most years this band was a group of mixed ability musicians from different grades, all cramped in a space next to the stage during the performances. A lot of the music would have to be rearranged to take into account a lack of needed instruments but they somehow made it work every single year. Evan had played in this band every year, each year bringing different people and different challanges that they had to take on as a group.

This year, he realised that he would be the only cellist. In previous years, there'd always be at least one other cellist in the band but now those people had graduated - leaving him alone. The production for that year was going to be Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. It was a shock how their school had even got the license for it. Upon first hearing the news, Evan had been over the moon. However, knowing that all the responsibility for the cello parts in the score would be solely on him, he was more terrified than not. Though, as a Grade 6 cellist, he was more than capable and Most of the band doubled as the cast which meant that the rehearsals were being completely restructured. Usually, there'd be two seperate rehearsals - a rehearsal for the cast and the actual show, and then a rehearsal just for the band.

This year, they had decided that all rehearsals would be cast and band rehearsals. No doubt would it make life easier for everyone, considering that it was a sung-through musical. The high levels of organisation for the year's - and previous year's - show was down to Alana Beck, who was the Student Director, Conductor, and the person who would be taking one of the title roles, Natalya "Natasha" Rostova. She was a good "acquaintance" of Evan's and he trusted that she knew exactly what she was doing. He pondered how she was going to be able to keep up with having to practically run the entire project as well as playing the lead role.

 

It was the first rehearsal of the year, afterschool on a Wednesday a few weeks into the new term. Alana was one of the few people already in the auditorium, having arrived early - no surprise there.

Evan was sitting in a chair close to the stage, making small tuning adjustments to his cello, with a lot of difficulty because of the bulky cast on his left arm, and trying to pretend that the silence between the few lurking cast and band members wasn't awkward.

"Evan!"

The cellist's head looked up when he heard Alana addressing him, walking over with a fairly thick looking book in her hands. She crossed the space over to his seat, placing the book on the chair beside him.

"I have your parts and, since you're already here, I thought that you could start to look through them and kinda get a.. Feel for the music. Y'know, a small headstart."

Evan flicked through the pages while she talked, his cello resting securely between his legs.

"I trust you enough to have the 'Master Copy' of the cello sheet music," She made air quotations with her hands, "But it seems like you might be the only cellist this year, so no one else needs it, anyway." Alana had a small, sympathetic smile on her face as Evan nodded in response. She continued:

"Also, I don't mean to make your life harder but I don't think that we'll have anyone playing bass this year, so I might have to load those parts on you too. I might have to make a few adjustments to the music, so that it's actually playable on the cello. And I might have to check if there's any additional cello parts that I might have to pass off to one of the other strings." Alana sighed, continuing to speak and ramble a bit though Evan still listened carefully. "... Anyways, this year might be a challenge but-- _Wait_."

She paused for a second.

"Can you even play with your cast?"

Oh. Right.

Alana's expression looked as if she hadn't even noticed Evan's cast before. Truth was, Evan couldn't actually play with a broken arm. He knew that he probably shouldn't have turned up or bothered with trying to tune his instrument when he wouldn't even be playing it. At least being able to do something so small as tuning made him feel a little less useless. He already felt useless enough because of his cast.

_Useless, pathetic, good for nothing... Can't even do the one thing that you aren't completely terrible at._

"S-sorry." Evan stumbled out after attempting to make his brain shut up. It was the first thing that he had actually said since he had been there.

Alana sighed again. "Right. Okay. That's fine. I don't even think that you'd need to play today, anyway. We're just going to do a sing-through and a little bit of a play-through, considering that it's the first rehearsal. When do you get your cast off?"

"Little u-under two weeks?" Evan's answer sounded more like a question, his voice unsure. Of course, he did know exactly when he was getting his cast off. He was constantly repeating the date in his head and reminding himself of when he'd be able to get rid of the additional burden and problems that the thick cast had been causing him.

"We can make that work. Don't worry. There are always ways to work around these things." Alana nodded as if she were really trying hard to think of a solution. She smiled again, sweetly and optimistically, before she walked off, with her ponytailed braids swinging softly as she moved, to greet and talk with some of the others who were now quite rapidly filing in.

 

"Acorn! Don't you realise that you need two working hands to play a cello? And you also had to kill one of your precious trees to make that thing." Evan was surprised to hear Jared Kleinman's voice shouting at him from across the auditorium. He hadn't been aware of the fact that his family friend was going to be part of the show in anyway. Usually, Jared would only join music clubs if they allowed him to play either the kazoo, triangle, or slide-whistle. Little did people know, he was actually a Grade 4 clarinetist and was actually pretty musically talented. He just never thought to mention it to many people.

Evan flinched at the words before stuttering out a weak "Shut up, Jared" which only earned him a laugh in response before Jared took a seat near him, leaving an empty seat between the two of them.

The longer Evan had to sit quietly while listening to the relaxed chatter across the room, the more he was starting to dread the entire thing. Luckily, Alana was making quick work of handing out scripts/music parts and it wasn't long until she was calling everyone to attention and making an official start to the rehearsal.

Jared talked to him a little while he set up his instrument.

"You're just gonna sit there and do absolutely fucking nothing - right?"

"N-no. I won't just be-... Pretty much, yeah."

"Thought so."

 

\---

 

The rehearsal went through nice and smoothly, in contrast to what Evan had imagined it would be like. There was a nice, friendly and relaxed atmosphere in the room that managed to soften Evan's racing mind ever so slightly, which was actually quite an achievement compared to the constant anxiety that plagued him day-in-day-out.

Surprisingly, Evan felt himself liking a lot of the cast members despite most of them not paying much attention to the fact that he was there.  One of the cast - an eccentric girl named Maureen, a senior who was playing Heléne - had volunteered to temporarily take Evan's place as cellist, after Alana had mentioned that he wasn't able to play, claiming to be an expert at the electric cello despite never actually having taken a lesson.

Time flew by and, to Evan, it seemed like the rehearsal was over as quickly as it had started. They had made good progress and got through half of the first act, Evan keeping up by simply reading through his own parts. Alana had been busy scribbling out notes throughout the entire thing, barely even looking up from the paper she was writing on. She continued writing even as most people were filing out of the auditorium to go home.

The remaining stragglers, including Evan, were all simply the people who had to store away instruments or the few who had stayed behind to help reorganise and tidy the auditorium. Jared had already left, claiming that he had much better things to do than join the "After-Rehearsal Clean Up Committee", as he called it, Alana was busying herself with making final notes and organising the music parts that she had recollected and Evan was stacking away chairs.

The sprinkling of small, hushed conversations was cut through by the sounds of heated arguing from outside the auditorium door, which caused any noise inside to come to an abrupt halt as they all tried to eavesdrop on what was happening outside.

Staring at the door in a sense of slight horror, Evan tried to catch at least a few snippets of the argument. It was difficult to tell what the two outside were even yelling at each other about, seeing as he could only make out the occasional word or phrase.

 _"Missed it-... Late-... Your fault!"_  
_"It was not!... Fucking bitch-... Didn't even want-..."_  
_"How fucking dare!-... I'll tell-.."_  
_"If you tell-... Swear to God-... Won't even-..."_  
_"Why-... For once-... Such a dick."_  
_"Fuck you."_

And, so, the argument seemed to be over already. A very uncomfortable silence had fallen over those who were still in the auditorium, all looking around at each other with puzzled and somewhat frightened looks on their faces.Alana tried to keep a neutral and calm expression but her eyes betrayed her confusion.

All heads in the room whipped back over to the door when it opened and the two people from outside walked in.

The first to enter was a girl with blonde highlights and indigo streaks in her hair, carrying a guitar case. She looked extremely pissed, but not as pissed as the boy who walked in just after her. No, the girl looked pissed, but he had a look in his eyes that was almost murderous. Hair that partially covered one eye, pale skin and sharp features, dark clothes, and heavy looking boots.

The Murphy siblings - Zoe and Connor.

The boy looked around at the people in the room, who's eyes were all still focused on him and the girl. Clearly, they had all been gawking for too long without even realising, because Connor snapped.

"For fuck sakes, _stop staring_!"

Zoe gave him a disgusted glare before walking away from him, trying to put a distance between them. Everyone else quickly seemed to notice that, _wow_ , the walls were interesting and focused their eyes elsewhere.

Evan paled when he spotted the familiar shape of a cello case on Connor's back. He had grown more content with the idea of being the lone cellist of the production and having the multiple parts loaded at him. But _now_? He was going to have to work with _Connor freaking Murphy_.

Evan didn't even know that he played an instrument. He didn't have a clue why or how Connor was actually taking part in the school production. All he could think of was how much nicer it would be if Zoe, wonderful Zoe, played the cello rather than _Connor_.

It seemed that Alana had picked up on the presence of a second cello in the room, because she turned to Evan, who had frozen, and spoke softly with a very fake and uncomfortable looking polite smile.

"I guess you won't be the only cellist this year after all, huh Evan.."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter one! Thanks for reading, if you have. I promise the next chapter will have more stuff actually happening, but I just wanted to have an introductory chapter.  
> Also, the Maureen mentioned is a teenaged Maureen from Rent. Just a passing mention. I will include other characters from other musicals so if you have any ideas of characters that could play the Great Comet characters in this, drop a comment?  
> I dunno. I'm still trying to get the hang of using this site.  
> I promise my writing will improve.  
> Once again, thank y'alls for reading and I'll see you when I next upload (I still have to figure out a regular posting schedule).


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A second chapter? In less than a week? It's more likely than you think.
> 
> Alana proposes something
> 
> Silences are awkward
> 
> And Jared is shook™.

Evan could do little more than simply return the polite smile, though it felt forced and very nervous and Evan had to stop himself because _oh my god what if it's just a grimace and you're looking like some weird, rude freak?_

Everything went oddly silent again until the door shut and the four remaining in the room realised that they were the only ones there.

"Right.. I'm so sorry that you just missed the first rehearsal, but it's fine. Don't worry about it." Alana rushed to reassure the siblings. She continued to talk as she rummaged through her bag.

Evan started to get up to leave, assuming that he wouldn't really be needed anymore and that he was clearly overstaying his welcome and that he was probably, at this point, was just eavesdropping and being creepy, but he was stopped by Alana telling him "Evan, just wait a minute?" in her characteristic, borderline-sickly sweet tone. Of course, he stopped moving entirely as he felt that most eyes were now on him. He nodded a few times and kept his eyes trained at the floor.

Alana managed to wrestle a few neatly stapled paper books from her bag, handing one to Connor and walking over to give the other to Zoe, who had gone to sit down on one of the auditorium chairs.

"Zoe, you'll be sharing most of your guitar parts with some of the others, but I _think_ that I managed to wrangle you a solo or two in a few of the pieces." Alana said happily to the Murphy girl, who was smiling back at her.

"Y'know, you really didn't have to do that, Alana. It would have been fine if you'd just given me the same part as the others." Zoe said with a little shrug as if to dismiss it, but she was still blushing a little.

"No, no. It's fine! You're probably the most talented guitarist we've got, plus I know that you're reliable. None of the other's have been guitarists in the show band before, because they're all actors. Besides, I'd prefer the solos to go to one of the people who aren't constantly on stage." Alana reasoned. There were a few moments where the two girls seemed to just watch each other, both smiling just a little.

Meanwhile, the two boys just watched them, awkwardly.

Turns out a lot of quiet rehearsal moments can feel very awkward - at least to Evan, that is.

 

Connor cleared his throat to try and cut the girls out of their little bubble where they'd been staring at each other for just a little too long. Evan heard a little mumble of "This is bullshit" from the other cellist, too.

"Oh! Right. Connor." Bingo. Seems like it worked enough to snap Alana out of it. "Thank you for coming! I mean, when I mentioned about joining the show band to you before the summer, I wasn't sure if you were actually serious about it. But I'm so glad that you came!"

At this, Evan's eyes widened in shock. Alana had _asked him_ to join? Clearly, she hadn't thought to actually mention that at all to Evan, or maybe she had just genuinely thought that he wouldn't show up.

"Mhm. 'Kay." Connor sounded distracted as he responded, his eyes were narrowed in concentration at a page of the sheet music he held in his hands. "Hey, 'Lana, don't you think this stuff might be a little above my...uh.. level?" His voice had dropped all hints of hostility that it had before, but the same look of concentration and confusion was still obvious on his face.

Evan felt like his neck was probably going to snap from where he was looking back and forth between Alana and Connor so much.

"I thought it might be a bit tricky for you. And that's why I've kept Evan here. I have a little proposal for the both of you, if you don't mind." Alana's statement sounded more like a question and, for once, she seemed a little hesitant and unsure of herself. Evan winced because there was attention being placed on him, in comparison to before where he'd just be able to sit there and act as if he were invisible. Now he was just confused.

"Evan is another _close acquaintance_ of mine and, as you can see, he is also a cellist. Like you, Connor." She spoke as if trying to explain it to a small child. The slightly-forced but sickly enthusiasm in her voice was starting to take it's toll on Connor, who looked very much like he didn't actually want to be there.

Evan didn't want to be there, either, anymore. The blonde fiddled with the edge of his cast, just wishing that Alana had mentioned that she had been planning something _prior_ to then.

"So..." Alana started again, her back straightening as she prepared to say her piece, which seemed as if it would be important by the way she was preparing herself.

"I was thinking that you two could work together. Most of your parts are very... Interactive with each other. And both of your parts are pretty difficult and, Connor, seeing as you aren't as advanced at the cello, I propose that Evan could help to teach you?"

Alana was attempting to get through to the two boys who were just staring back at her with blank faces.

"Please, I really think it could work!" Alana's enthusiasm returned. "It doesn't even have to be that often. Maybe just a practise or two, out of rehearsal, per week. I really, _really_ want this show to be as perfect as possible, but this year's show is a lot more of a challenge than the previous years'. Connor, don't take it personally."

Firstly, Connor was slightly offended and found it a little patronising that Alana thought that he had to have additional tutoring from another student for this show. But, deep down, he knew that she was right. Connor would never admit it, and if there was any chance that he would admit it - it would be with great reluctance -, but the girl did have a point.

 

Connor had never had a natural talent for music. His parents had forced him and Zoe into music when they were younger and he had simply chosen the cello because it was the largest and most expensive instrument that he could think of at the top of his head and figured that it might just piss his parents off at least just a little. It didn't. Because they could easily afford it and they didn't care in the slightest about the size of it. It did, however, piss his parents off when they had to pay out for a two new cellos on two seperate occasions when Connor managed to break them during his rage-fueled episodes. He was currently on his third cello - thank God for rich parents - and was doing well in the fact that he hadn't broken this one. Yet. He found other, not exactly healthy ways to cope. Connor rarely attended the lessons that his parents payed out for, claiming that he had better things to do or that he had simply forgotten.

Still, despite being entirely reluctant to put any effort into his musical studies, he had always envied how his sister had taken to music like a fish to water. Zoe had always been known for her talent. Had always dedicated herself to her guitar and her bands and clubs. Connor still wished that he could find the motivation to dedicate himself that much to something like music.

 

Also, Evan was shocked. Because, for one thing, Alana had _not actually told him about that._ He just wished that he would have had a single freaking warning before having this information loaded at him.And, in his mind, it wasn't like he could just say no. 'Cause then Alana would think that he's rude, or she might ask why or think that he doesn't have any reason to say no, or he might end up losing one of the two people that he could have almost called his friend and he'll be stuck forever with someone who only calls him a "family friend".

But, on the bright side, this could be an opportunity for a new friendship. Maybe. And then maybe his mom would stop badgering him about trying to get out there and talking to people. Not that Evan thought that Connor might actually want to be friends with him. Quite frankly, Evan was scared of the tall, dark-haired boy.

"I-I mean..-"

"Fine. I'm outta here, anyway."

Evan turned to see Connor leaving, the door loudly shutting behind him.

Zoe, from her seat, rolled her eyes and sighed but her face looked a little upset. "Sorry, 'Lana, about my brother. He's... Difficult. But you already know that." She sounded tired. "I should probably head after him. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

 

And then there were two.

 

".. Look, Alana. Are you sure about this?-"

"Evan. Trust me. Connor's gonna need all the help he can get with this, and I know that you're able to provide it." Alana looked sincere, trying to reason with him as Evan stood up.

"Connor is one of my closest acquaintances, Evan. He's actually really nice when you get to know him. I promise." Alana gave a reassuring smile. "Just.. Give it a try, okay? Maybe it might help a little with your anxiety. And, honestly, I feel like Connor could use a friend just as much as you could right now."

And she smiled. It wasn't one of her usual, forced-looking smiles. It was genuine and warm and made Evan feel a little more positive about the whole situation. Maybe it wouldn't be _that_ bad.

 

\--(Mini timeskip thing brought to you by my  _Waitress_ CD that finally arrived in the mail almost a month and a half after I actually ordered it)--

 

 "Hold on--

You mean to say that _Connor Murphy_. Who barely shows up to a _single class_ and always looks like he'd rather be getting high with his other stoner pals - Which is probably where he always is rather than school - decided that he was going to join the freaking _show band?_ And he _plays the cello?_ "

Jared was  ~~shook™~~ more than surprised when Evan told him the news. Despite what he had said before, Jared had still actually waited outside for Evan so that they could walk home together.

_"Family friends only" my ass._

"Yeah, but he isn't, like, brilliant at it and what not so, um, Alana asked me if I'd.. Help him out. To, y'know, help him to learn some of the trickier parts of the score and teach him some of the stuff he doesn't know." Evan said quietly, keeping his eyes fixed to the floor and entirely missing Jared's eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"I'm sorry but, excuse me, what the _actual fuck?_ " Jared looked skeptical and probably would have stopped in his tracks if it weren't for the fact that Evan was walking at a pace that was already difficult to keep up with. "You do realise that he'll probably try to murder you with the cello spike, right?"

Evan could only roll his eyes, though Connor's violent reputation did frighten him a little. He could only hope that it wasn't true. Though, his thoughts did start to race with annoying, intrusive things like:

_What if he just won't listen?_

_Or maybe he'll get pissed at you if you keep trying to teach him stuff?_

_What if he genuinely gets violent?_

Evan tried to cut himself off before he could start panicking too much.

Meanwhile, Jared was over-dramatically miming picking up a cello and wielding it to stab someone. It was stupid enough to temporarily put those thoughts in Evan's head on pause so that he could roll his eyes at the other boy again.

"I-I'm sure that he wouldn't actually do that. Alana called him one of her, uh, her 'close acquaintances'. So I guess he can't be that bad." Evan knew that that'd probably work to get Jared off his case. He knew that Jared sometimes had a tendancy to stare after the dark-skinned girl with heart-eyes, or sometimes he would follow her around like a lost puppy. Evan noticed it every time, but Jared would always deny it.

Jared realised what Evan was trying to do and narrowed his eyes, grumbling. "Fine. I'll believe you. Maybe Serial-Killer-Murphy isn't such a supervillain. But I bet that you're only agreeing to this because you want to get into his sister's pants." He retalliated, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Evan's face went bright red and he ended up almost choking on air. " _No!_ Jared, no!" The blonde was quick to come to his own defense. "That's _not_ what I want. Besides, just because Alana said about it to the both of us, doesn't mean that Connor's going to go along with it too. After she explained it, Connor just said something like ' _kay, fine_ ' and stormed out. He probably thinks it's stupid and probably just won't bother." Evan shrugged.

"Or... Maybe he'll spend his time planning on the best way to stab you with a cello spike and get away with it."

" _Jared!_ "

The brunette started cackling while Evan just glared at him, still not slowing down his speedy walking pace.

 

"Alright, alright. " Jared held his hands up in surrender. "He wouldn't need to plan how to get away with your murder. He's probably done it before."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kind comments left on the first chapter! I have still got to figure out an updating schedule.
> 
> Also, I really love Alana Beck. Freaking LOVE my gal.
> 
> This chapter feels a little slow and filler-like to me again, and I really hope that it's okay.   
> Unfortunately there's no actual instrument-ing in this chapter. Or mention of Great Comet Smh. 
> 
> It's been just over a month since Great Comet closed I am e m o t i o n a l.
> 
> Why do I feel like there's a butt ton of continuity errors in this chapter?
> 
> A little about me: I am a cellist myself (not really a surprise, I guess?). I'm not really that great though whoops.   
> If you want to contact me to just chat or whatever, you can find me on a lovely place called Hamilton Amino, where I have just come out of a hiatus. My username is "Idk..Probably Peggy" (minus speech marks)
> 
> Anyways, love y'all lots and thanks for reading. See you next chapter, my loves!


End file.
